1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a farm machine for windrowing of products, having a frame which can be connected to a tractor and which comprises at least one rotor rotating around an approximately vertical pin. The rotor has a central housing carrying toolholder arms and in which is located a cam which controls said toolholder arms so that during each revolution they pivot around their respective geometric axes so that their tools gather then lay down the products in the form of a windrow. The toolholder arms are made of at least one inside part which is located close to the central housing and one outside part which carries the working tools and which is connected to the inside part by a joint around which it can be displaced for transport.
2. Background of the Related Art
In a machine of this type, known in FR 2 355 440, the rotor comprises two arms, each having an outside part that can be folded downward around a pin crosswise to the direction in which the respective arm extends. For transport, the two folded arms are brought to the left side of the machine to reduce its width. It then is necessary to lock the rotor to prevent these two arms from being displaced. Such a displacement would cause both an upward pivoting of the folded parts because of the control performed by the cam and the arrival of nonfolded arms on the side of the machine, with a resulting increase of the width. In addition, such pivoting of the folded parts of the arms can cause damage in case of an encounter with the frame or the adjacent arms. This construction therefore is relatively undesirable. Moreover, it is not suitable for adequately reducing the dimensions of very large machines or forwardly positioned machines. On these machines, it is necessary to shorten all the toolholder arms to reduce both their width and their length for transport.
On another known machine, all the toolholder arms of the rotor are made of two telescopic parts. For transport, the radially outer parts of the arms are slid radially inwardly to reduce the diameter of the rotor. This arrangement is very fragile, however. The sliding of the outer parts is restrained or impeded by the earth or plant debris which can stick between the telescoping parts, by rust or by even slight deformations which can result from impacts suffered by the arms. For these various reasons, this solution is hardly suitable for the adjustment of the arms on farm machines intended for windrowing.
In another known machine, each toolholder arm of the rotor comprises an outside part which can be disconnected from an inside part. The outside part which carries the working tools can be attached to the frame of the machine for transport. In this case, it is necessary for the user to manually remove all the outside parts during each transposition from the work position to the transport position, and vice versa. Because of the large number of parts to be displaced and the weight of the latter, this operation is relatively difficult to perform. Consequently, only some arms may be transposed and others left in their work position, which is dangerous in case of displacement on a road.